Monday, April 26, 2010

R.I.P. Buster

Our beloved Buster died last Friday, just after he attained his majority--he was twenty-one.

That's the guess, anyway--he came into my life when Betsy Hearne, out with her dog, saw him in a Chicago park for two days running and brought him into our office. For me. (If Betsy Hearne ever suggests you do something, trust me, do it.) The vet who checked him out then said he seemed just about a year old. We will never know from whence he came, but he was fixed and housebroken and well-fed; my guess is that he got out and lost. (My friend Nina used to tease me that there was a child in Chicago who sobbed herself every night to sleep asking "Where's b-b-b-Brownie?")

Thanks to all of his friends, especially Horn Book alumnae Anita Burkam, Claire Gross, Marilyn Bousquin, and the late Amy Chamberlain, who kept an eye on him when I had to go out of town. If I do say so myself, he had a great life.

So sorry to hear of his passing. Even though that's a good long life for a dog, dogs just don't live long enough! I clicked on your tag and saw a picture that you posted some time ago. What a handsome boy....perhaps he had some Collie in him?

Sorry to have missed sending my condols earlier, Roger. I was just saying to another friend yesterday, we take on our furred friends in full knowledge that we are only going to have them for a short time. And yet, and yet--that time goes all too quickly and death always comes as an awful surprise. Many hugs for you and Buster.

About Me

I've been the editor in chief of The Horn Book, Inc, since 1996; previously editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books and a children's and young adult librarian. Received my M.A. in library science from the University of Chicago in 1982 and a B.A. from Pitzer College in 1978.